Iowa Caucus Enjoys Record Turnout
Volunteers count ballots on Monday night.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – People across Iowa met in small meeting rooms, county shops and school lunch rooms in order to make the nation’s first official vote in the race for the White House in 2016.
Surrogates for each candidate took the opportunity to talk about their candidate of choice. Neighbors spoke about their choices in last minute words to win over another vote for their candidate.
Wyndell Campbell, an Oskaloosa Insurance Agent, shared about casting his vote in the Iowa Caucus. “Even though the ballots were cast and counted as a secret ballot, there was just something gratifying about showing up and seeing my fellow Ward 3 friends and neighbors take time out of their lives to make this first important step, to let the candidates know what we think about who the front runner is.”
“Tonight was my first caucus experience and I for one am glad to get all the ads off our television and radio, for now. I am really interested in seeing who rises to the top over the next few weeks and takes the momentum necessary to win in November,” said Campbell.
Andrea Heakin, 9, took an opportunity to advocate for Bernie Sanders in Oskaloosa on Monday night. (photo by Denis Currier/Oskaloosa News)
From the Lynnville-Sully area, Monte Goodyk is an independent filmmaker who has traveled the State of Iowa, filming and documenting candidates from both parties as they interacted with the people of Iowa, in public and in intimate behind the scenes moments.
“I never believed that you could jet into Iowa, hold a rally, jet back out of Iowa, and have any chance of winning. I think we saw tonight the man that worked the retail political machine the hardest win. Rubio however is the biggest surprise. I thought that third-place could’ve been a Santorum resurge or possibly Chris Christie instead,” said Goodyk. “And the biggest surprise, which isn’t a surprise to me, is that I think Sanders is outperforming Clinton.”
Goodyk has amassed hundreds of hours of footage from around the state, and it’s now the time for him to decide what the next step will be, and what financing will become available for his project. “Nobody has ever taken on a project like mine and it’s a little overwhelming. It’s about telling the stories of the winners and losers in the best most entertaining way possible. And now I move into the next stage of financing a nationwide project, instead of just Iowa,” explained Goodyk.
To see some of the work this local filmmaker has done, you can see his work at http://www.thenominee.us/
Another Iowan with a local connection is Austin Bayliss, who graduated from William Penn University and got the political bug in the middle of 2015. Bayliss spent months trekking around Iowa, getting to meet and know almost every candidate running at the time, even a few of the more obscure ones, like Mark Everson who is the former head of the IRS.
Bayliss and his infant son were the only people at that Pizza Ranch meet-and-greet with Everson.
Waiting for Trump to arrive after coming in 2nd in Iowa. (photo by Austin Bayliss.)
Bayliss was quoted from coast-to-coast in just about every print publication, with his image on many of those pages because he was everywhere a candidate was.
Monday night was his first ever caucus. “I was impressed with the turnout. I didn’t know what to expect going into the caucus, but the turnout exceeded my expectations. The process was also very easy.”
Tonight ended with his choice, Donald Trump, coming in second place. “Honestly… I’m having a hard time walking out of the Trump event right now… It’s hard to believe this journey is over. I’ve been to over 90 events since last April for everyone. I’m disappointed it’s over…”
In Mahaska County, caucus venues were packed with caucus goers. A quick show of hand was quick to reveal that many people were there for the first time.
For Democrats, the story of the night is the virtual tie between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. Republicans hoisted Marco Rubio into a solid third place finish, behind Donald Trump and winner Ted Cruz.
Candidates dropping out of the race after Iowa’s first-in-the-nation vote included, Democrat Martin O’Malley and Republican Mike Huckabee.
Results by precinct for Democrats are as follows:
PR/RL – Clinton 80% Sanders 20%
BO/ST – Clinton 66.7% Sanders 33.3%
EW – DM/JF – Clinton 75% – Sanders 25%
CE/HA/WO – Clinton 55.6% – Sanders 44.4%
GF/LN/MD – Clinton 50% – Sanders 50%
SP/KE – Clinton 80% – Sanders 20%
OS3/UP – Clinton 50% – Sanders 50%
OS4/LN – Clinton 56.3% – Sanders 43.8%
Oskaloosa 2nd Ward – Sanders 57.1% – Clinton 42.9%
Oskaloosa 1st Ward – Sanders 57.1% – Clinton 42.9%
AD/MN/PG/UN – Clinton 75% – Sanders 25%
Results by precinct for Republicans are as follows:
PR/RL – Cruz 109, Trump 34, Rubio 26, Carson 19, Huckabee 10
BO/ST – Cruz 86, Carson 33, Rubio 25, Trump 18, Paul 12
EW – DM/JF – Cruz 30, Trump 17, Rubio 8, Carson 3, Santorum 3
CE/HA/WO – Cruz 66, Trump 57, Rubio 24, Carson 18, Santorum 12
GF/LN/MD – Trump 49, Rubio 46, Cruz 41, Santorum 18, Carson 17
SP/KE – Cruz 51, Trump 36, Rubio 30, Carson 15, Santorum 11
OS3/UP – Cruz 103, Rubio 63, Trump 54, Carson 28, Bush 12
OS4/LN – Rubio 65, Trump 59, Cruz 48, Carson 25, Fiorina 19
Oskaloosa 2nd Ward – Cruz 69, Trump 44, Carson 28, Rubio 17, Paul 5
Oskaloosa 1st Ward – Rubio 38, Trump 30, Cruz 27, Carson 22, Paul 9
AD/MN/PG/UN – Cruz 39, Rubio 26, Trump 23, Huckabee 6, Paul 2
